Simi Linton has been at the forefront of disability studies since its
early days. While on the faculty at Hunter College she wrote the groundbreaking
study of this field, Claiming Disability: Knowledge and Identity.
She was awarded a Mary E. Switzer Distinguished Fellowship by the US
Department of Education National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation
Research, 1995-1996, which allowed her to complete this work.
She has been the Co-Director of the University
Seminar in Disability Studies at Columbia University since 2003.
Claiming Disability: Knowledge and Identity
New York University Press, 1998
In series: Cultural Front Michael Berube, General Editor
ISBN: 0-8147-5134-2
Hear Simi Linton read a short
excerpt from Claiming Disability here. (text
version)
"Long overdue, Claiming Disability both
carves out a new field of study, and introduces and educates readers
to disability studies as a vibrant space of intellectual work. Linton
weaves in and out of disciplines—queer studies, traditional educational psychology,
literary criticism, critical legal studies—without a blink. Both
precise and expansive, she declares and defines disability studies in
ways that are systematic, theoretically engaging, and policy-relevant." Michelle
Fine, City University of New York
"Claiming Disability is the most comprehensive
book in disability studies to come along yet. It wisely defines terms
and concepts, linking them to and questioning the dominant issues
in identity politics and multiculturalism, while mapping a direction
for future study. A must-read for anyone seriously thinking about
the body and body politics in the postmodern era." Lennard Davis,
author of Enforcing
Normalcy: Disability, Deafness and the Body
"Provides a broadened and enriched definition
of disability, and its author unfolds a compelling way to evaluate
Special Education."
Laurie R. Lehman, Educators for Urban Minorities
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